Brand Identity and Image

Problem: How does rebranding affects a company?

After defining this problem, our group came up with four main learning objectives:

1. What constitutes brand identity?

2. What are the differences between brand identity and brand image?

     - compare different models

3. Why is it important to build strong brands/ why branding is so important?

4. Rebranding: Key Points? Why to rebrand? Positive and negative aspects? Process of rebranding?

1.      What constitutes brand identity?

According to Argenti (2013) a company's identity is "the actual manifestation of the company's reality as conveyed through the organization's name, logo, motto, brands, products, services, (...), and all other tangible pieces of evidence created by the organization (...)."

Corporate identity consists of three main attributes that are illustrated in the image below. One of these attributes is Symbolism which includes corporate logos and the company house style. The next attribute they mention is Communication which encompasses all planned forms of communication including corporate advertising, events, sponsorships, publicity and promotion. As the third feature, behaviour was mentioned which involves all behaviour of employees from managers to front-line staff such as salespeople that leaves an impression on stakeholders. Through those attributes the company communicates and projects an image of themselves to their different stakeholder groups. (Birkigt & Stadler, 1986)

Model of corporate identity (Birkigt & Stadler, 1986)

All in all, corporate identity can be defined as outward presentation of an organisation through the previously mentioned attributes that should emerge from an understanding of the company's core mission, vision and the more general corporate culture and values (corporate personality). Corporate personality is not necessarily something tangible but its reality is reflected by the corporate identity which is the tangible manifestation of the company's personality. (Cornelissen, 2011)

There are three main types of identity: (Cornelissen, 2013)

- monolithic corporate identity refers to a corporate brand: all products and services, communication and employee behaviour are labelled with the same company name (Coca-Cola, Nike, etc.)

- branded identity: each product and service has their own brand name and brand values on the market (Unilever, P&G), especially for companies that are adressing different market segments  

- endorsed identity: different business and products have their own branded identity (including names and logos) but are also badged with the parent company name  (Nestlé)


All in all, brand identity consists of physique, personality, relationship, culture, reflection and self-image.

Brand Identity Prism (Kapferer)

2. What are the differences between brand identity and brand image?

During the first learning objective, I mainly talked about brand identity and that it is "the actual manifestation of the company's reality". However, in most cases there is a huge difference in the way a company project a particular image of themselves and the way the image is evaluated by their stakeholders. The main difference regarding identity and image is obviously the point of view. Whereas brand identity is the tangible manifestation of the way a company wants their stakeholders to perceive them, the brand image is seen as the actual way "constituencies perceive the organization based upon all messages it sends out through names and logos and self-presentation (...)." (Argenti, 2013). In other words, it is the way the company is perceived by their stakeholder groups. The image of a company can vary across different stakeholder groups but the identity should be consistent. Identity is the only part of reputation management that can be completely controlled by an organization. (Argenti, 2013)

The two illustrations below summarize the differences quite well:

Schallehn, 2012

 

Brand identity vs Brand image

3. Why is it so important to build strong brands/ Branding?

Nowadays branding gets more and more important and companies that want to be successful have to keep this in mind. 

Firstly, I want to briefly define what the term corporate branding means. Corporate branding is the way in which organizations develop and build reputations with their stakeholders (Cornelissen, 2011). Whereas identity represents the reality of an organization and image the reflection by constituencies, reputation is built up over time and is the total sum of how constituents see the organization. (Argenti, 2013)

Reputation Framework (Argenti, 2013)

According to Cornelissen (2011), strong reputation and brands give an organization a "first-choice" status and provide a reason for being favoured by stakeholders because it is seen as an indicator or signal for underlying quality of products and services. It helps stakeholders to find or recognize an organization, creates awareness among stakeholder groups and ensures acceptance and legitimacy.

Furthermore, strong brands my offer a competitive advantage because it forms an intangible asset that creates value and is very difficult for others to replicate and imitate.

Branding is not only important regarding the external communication but also regarding the own employees. Employees prefer to work for organizations with a good reputation and a clear image can help to increase motivation and moral among employees. Branding helps allowing people to identify with their organisation.

According to Fombrun and van Riel (2004), strong brand reputation is characterized by high levels of the following:

1. Visibility - degree to which corporate themes are visible in all internal and external communication

2. Distinctiveness - degree to which corporate identity or positioning of organisation is distinctive

3. Authenticity - degree to which organization communicates values that are embedded in its culture

4. Transparency - degree to which an organization is open and transparent about its behaviour

5. Consistency - degree to which organization communicates consistent messages through all internal and external channels

So, branding creates a certain amount of uniqueness that helps organizations to differentiate itself from their competitors and to attain a preferred position in the minds of their stakeholders. However, Deephouse & Carter (2005) have shown that similarity regarding the corporate identity an organization projects can improve the degree to which an organization is seen as socially acceptable/ legitimated by stakeholders. That is where a strong brand and reputation is again important because companies with stronger corporate reputation can easily improve their distinct status without losing their legitimacy.      

However, companies have to claim some generic values (technological innovation, customer care, ethical conduct) to meet expectations of their stakeholders but should at the same time claim some distinctive values to differentiate.

https://clinked.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/branding1.png

4. Rebranding

First of all, I would like to give a short definition of rebranding. Rebranding is the "act of changing the way that an organization, business company or product appears to the public." (Cambridge Dictionary) With rebranding, a ompany tries to influence the perception of their stakeholder groups about a product, service or the company itself.

Before thinking about rebranding the business, a company has to assess whether it needs to rebrand or simply reposition. Repositioning makes sense when the companies name is well established but there are problems with the image or reputation. For example, Apple did not change their name when expanding their product range behind computers but repositioned their company more as a digital lifestyle provider instead of a computer company. 

In contrast, rebranding is necessary when the company's identity or name causes confusion or is out-dated. For example, Kentucky Fried Chicken rebranded to KFC to get rid of the fried aspects of their food and in order to be able to offer grilled chicken without contradiction in the name due to the increasing health-consciousness.  

4.1 Reasons for rebranding

There are many different reasons why organizations decide to rebrand. According to Bolhuis (2014) there is usually one main reason for making the change, however the motivation behind a rebranding project is often influenced by several factors:

1. Mergers, acquisitions and demergers

2. Repositioning or new business line (example of Dell Computers, Apple)

3. Internationalisation: for example if the brand name is too specific for a particular country or brings up wrong associations in different countries

4. legal issues such as trademark rights

5. Changing markets

6. New audience

7. Bad reputation: change needs to be implemented in all aspects of the organization

8.Competitive Influences

9. Outdated image

10. Changing brand portfolio

http://thumbnails-visually.netdna-ssl.com/the-top-ten-reasons-to-rebrand_502918cfae674.jpg

4.2 Process of rebranding

According to Kleimann (2015) and Mason (2015), there are five main steps during the rebranding process.

1. Evaluate the existing culture: The company has to get varied perspectives on how the organisation is perceived, both externally and internally. Furthermore, a closer look towards competitors can be very helpful in order to see what is currently out there in the market 

2. Be clear about what you want to accomplish

3. Actively sell it to all stakeholders: the reasons behind the change need to be clearly communicated and the core team needs to be get excited about the new branding in order to spread it

4. Put a process in place to ensure consistency and longevity: companies have to make sure that they can maintain the new brand after launching it, create support material that helps you to communicate the branding

4.3 Advantages and disadvantages of rebranding 

Prositive aspects of rebranding:

- rebranding can communicate that your company is open to change in order to your customer needs better

- change is re-freshing, rebranding can create excitement and anticipation about improved products

- new brand might help to appeal to new audience or to retarget your audience

- differentiation

Negative aspects of rebranding:

- rebranding can get very complicated, time-consuming and expensive

- loyal customers might perceive the changes in your business as a step backwards due to their emotional engagement

- loss of customers

- risk of losing the identity the company has build up  through changes that are not communicated properly

4.4 Examples

McDonald's

Over the years, McDonald's had the image of an unhealthy restaurant and its food was seen as the leading reason for obesity. Since then, the company tried to rebrand itself as more health conscious with a greater offer of salads and other healthy food. So, McDonald's paid attention about what the public was saying about their company and react to it. 

FedEx 

The overnight package-delivery FedEx is a good example regarding rebranding. The company, previously called Federal Express noticed that customers referred to it as FedEx and used FedEx as a verb to deliver packages. Therefore, the company decided to change the name into the abbreviation FedEx that was already used by most of the customers. 

PepsiCo - Tropicana

The company tried to modernise the carton of Tropicana but underestimated how attached customers had become to the old design. This change of design led to an immense, negative customer experience, so that the company announced to return to the old design immediately.

5. Sources

Argenti. P.A. (2013). Corporate Communication. 6th edition. McGraw-Hill. Dartmouth

Birkigt, K. & Stadler, M. (1986). Corporate Identity: Grundlagen, Funktionen und Beispiele. Landsberg an Lech: Moderne Industrie

Bolhuis. W. (2014). Top ten reasons for rebranding. VIM Group. URL: http://www.vim-group.com/en/top-ten-reasons-rebranding/. Accessed: 10 February 2016

Cambirdge Dictionary. Rebranding. URL: http://dictionary.cambridge.org/de/worterbuch/englisch/rebranding. Accessed: 10 February 2016

Cornelissen, J. (2011). Corporate Communication: A guide to theory and practice. 3rd edition. Sage Publications Ltd. 

Deephouse. D.L. & Carter. S.M. (2005). An examination of differences between organizational legitimacy and organizational reputation. Journal of Management Studies. 42. p. 329-360

Fombrun. C. & Van Riel. C.B.M. (2004). Fame and Fortune: How successful companies build winning reputations. London: FT Prentice Hall

Kleimann. J. (2015). How to successfully rebrand in 5 easy steps. Forbes. URL: http://www.forbes.com/sites/work-in-progress/2015/03/24/how-to-successfully-rebrand-in-5-easy-steps-3/2/#188b495260fc. Accessed: 10 February 2016 

Mason. G. (2015). You're rebranding. Should you change your company culture? URL: http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/243636. Accessed: 11 February 2016

Schallehn, M. (2012). Strategic Brand Management and the concept of brand authenticity. URL: http://de.slideshare.net/MikeSchallehn/brand-authenticity-and-strategic-brand-management. Accessed: 10 February 2016